She phoned Johan who immediately rushed back to the house and asked the neighbours if they had seen anybody suspicious in the yard. Piet de Swart, a next door neighbour, said he greeted a "smartly dressed middle-aged white male in a Toyota bakkie who simply hooked up the trailer and drove off. He acted very confidently, as if he knew the owner and was supposed to pick-up the boat".
Another neighbour said that earlier in the day a lady in a Ford Fiesta stopped opposite Lambert's house and was talking on her cellphone pointing at the window where the boat was standing. A short while later the 'suspect' arrived, walked around the house and was seen opening the garage door.
The neighbours did not take any of the vehicles' registration numbers.
Lambert moved from Springbok in the Northern Cape to George seven years ago as he, like many others, believed that the Southern Cape is relatively crime free. "Fishing has always been in my blood and I bought the small sea-going boat for relaxation with my friends. Luckily, the motor was not on the boat at the time."
Johan has reported the matter to the police but knows that it will be a challenge as neither the boat nor the trailer were licensed. The trailer has no number plate.
Sergeant Riëtte Esterhuyse, the communications officer at the George Police, said this is an isolated case and still under investigation. Anybody with information can contact Detective Constable Badikazi Nonyukela on 044 803 4765.
Johan Lambert (left) talks to Calley Rothman and Anele Magxaka, two York High School pupils who are job shadowing at the George Herald this week, about his stolen boat. Insert: The missing boat. Photo: Myron Rabinowitz
ARTICLE: MYRON RABINOWITZ, GEORGE HERALD JOURNALIST
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